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As Flies to Whatless Boys

Author	Robert Antoni
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Semi-Biographical Historical Fiction
Published	2013

As Flies to Whatless Boys is a 2013 historical fiction novel by American-born Caribbean writer Robert Antoni. It is based on the emigration of Antoni’s ancestors to Trinidad in 1845, as part of John Adolphus Etzler’s Tropical Emigration Society. Written as a compilation of standardized narrative, newspaper clippings, letters, emails, and various maps and diagrams, As Flies To Whatless Boys is Antoni’s fifth published novel and earned him the 2014 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature.

This novel is based on the immigrant's story of Willy Tucker family to Trinidad, and the failure of Mr. Etzler’s experiment. As the follower of Mr. Etzler’s Tropical Emigration Society, also known as ETS, Willy’s family move to Trinidad from London with other 37 people, including Marguerite's family, Mr.Whitechurch and Mrs. Whitechurch. Willy falls in love with Marguerite but he must to leave her to build the future in Chaguabarriga when they arrive at the Port of Spain with his father and Mr. Whitechurch. Unfortunately, black vomit kills Mr. Whitechurch and Willy’s father is endanger. Willy takes his father going back to their home in port of spain and reunion with his family. Later, he receives a letter from Marguerite saying that she is about to go back to London. Although Mr.Etzler’s immigration plan fails and Willy’s father finally died because of black vomit, Willy with his mother and sisters stay in Trinidad and start their new life.

Structure wise, the novel involves in three parallel plots, epistolary style and specific type of language. There are also at least 3 parallel storylines spanning over as many time periods. When there are no character developments on a page, it has been filled instead with detailed, not to mention verifiable, diagrams, newspaper clippings, pictures, faxes, and other assorted documents. Robert Antoni also makes use of Caribbean language to delineate certain characters and to express the core of Caribbean literature.

Plot summary

Topographic map of Trinidad and Tobago. Chaguabarriga is located on the north coast, heavily isolated by the mountain range

First Message, 3 Letters, Preamble: Awaiting the Tide

Miss Ramsol, the director, T&T National Archives writes an email to Mr Robert W Antoni, the author and also the character of this novel. Email suggests that Robert is the great-great-grandson of William Sanger Tucker, and Robert is doing research on the history of William Tucker. Robert tries to collect information of William Tucker, Etzler and TES from trinidad & Tobago National Archives. There are three letters. First one is sent from Professor Evans, the director of British Natural History Museum. Professor Evans invites William Tucker to visit the museum and offer lectures about hummingbirds. The second one is the reply from william Tucker that he thanks for Professor Evans’s invitation and asks for the contact information of Miss Marguerite Whitechurch. Lastly, William writes to Marguerite to update some recent situation, and asks for reunion. On the deck, Willy’s son is talking about how his dad, Willy, recalls his immigration story to trinidad, Mr. Etzler, TES, and Chaguabarriga.

At Sea

In 1845 London, an engineer visionary, and bold-faced charlatan, John Adolphus Etzler, has invented machines, named Rock Candy, powered by the immense forces of Mother Nature; he claims they’ll transform the division of labor and free all men. Etzler forms a collective, the Tropical Emigration society(TES), and recruits a variety of British citizens to found an experimental community of Trinidad. Carrying the hope of making money and living a better life, the family of William Tucker’s family and the family of Marguerite Whitechurch with totally 37 in number, follow Mr. Etzler and his partner, Mr. Stollmeyer to the journey. First met in train, William, later known as Willy, falls in love with Marguerite. Born without vocal cord, Marguerite is from gentry that make Willy almost impossible to reach Marguerite. Howover, throughout the journey, Willy and Marguerite become the love one for each other.

On Land

Roselind finally arrives at Port of Spain. Passengers stay there for couple days and visit the place. After Christmas, Willy must part from Marguerite and travel with the men of the TES, including Willy’s dad and Mr.Whitechurch to Chaguabarriga to build their future house. Carrying the dream, they work hard there. But the pioneers never even get a chance to unpack their satellite, Etzler’s wind-powered machine that will mow down the rain forest and plant their first crops. However, black vomit(also known as yellow fever) attacks the majority of them, including Mr.Whitechurch and Willy’s father. And now they’re trapped, without a boat to return to civilization.

Home

Before Willy goes home, the home in Port of Spain, Willy’s father asks Willy to make a promise that Willy need to remain in Trinidad with his mother and sisters if something happened to his father. Willy makes the promise, brings his father back to Port of Spain with the help from other TES members. Willy’s family finally reunion. However, Willy’s father is under distressed circumstances that black vomit turns his skin yellow. The situation becomes more and more serious by day, and he eventually dies. One day, Amelia, the youngest sister of Willy, gives Willy a letter from Marguerite. In the letter, Marguerite says that she need to go back to London with Mrs.Whitechurch. Willy rushes to the port but Marguerite leaves already. At the end, the Willy family stay in Trinidad.

Postscript: Busting a Leave, 3 Letters, Final Message

Mr. Evans writes to Willy a list of thing that William will sell to the public. As promise, Willy makes the lecture of Hummingbirds in the Natural History Museum. Marguerite reads the mail from Willy and brings her daughter to the lecture. However, Marguerite does not get the chance to see Willy just like Willy does not get the chance to see Marguerite when she leaves the Port of Spain.

Characters

Main Characters

• William Tucker The main narrator of the novel, known as Willy. He is one of the first los of ‘pioneer’ of the Tropical Emigration Society. Taking the ship, the Rosalind, he arrives at Trinidad on 2 December 1845 from London. He with his family is the follower of Mr. Etzler. After the failure on Chaguabarriga and his father’s death, he gets his start in the business of transportation soon after his arrival arrival to Trinidad, at the young age of fifteen.

• Robert William Tucker He is William’s eldest son, and known as ‘R-W’. He is the narrator of chapter Preamble: Awaiting the Tide, and the people that Willy narrator the immigrant story to (Robert William Tucker is the son that Willy Tucker indicates). He has worked in the business alongside his father since the age of eighteen, and he is himself a licenced ship’s captain.

• Willy’s parents Both followers of Mr. Etzler and his society. While Willy’s mother stay in Port of Spain, Willy’s father participate in building the future home with Willy on Chaguabarriga. Unfortunately, Willy’s father is later died in Port of Spain because of black vomit.

• Robert W Antoni The character that shares the same name as the author, Robert Antoni, of the novel. He is the great great grandson of Willy Tucker, and he works on collecting information about ETS, and the Tucker family and writing a book of those stories.

• Mr. Stollmeyer He acts as Secretary for the Society, TES, has been a printer in London and Philadelphia. He also moves to Trinidad by the Rosalind for settlement.

• Mr. Etzler He is German. As a technological Utopian, he is the director and founder of TES, Tropical Emigration Society, with Mr. Stollmeyer. Mr. Etzler is a self-styled inventor, scientist, and philanthropist. (104) He invents a machine called Rock Candy, a displate with a glass beaker containing a viscous-looking clear liquid, that can instantly crush sugar canes of the greatest quantity, with the highest yield of pure juice (71). He creates dream for his followers that they will have a settlement with great money worth. He is an engaging speaker but also a charlatan.

• Marguerite She is the niece of Mrs. Whitechurch and a girl from upper class. She has strong jaw, leps think and purple pink, with her nose long, straight, and strong. Her cheeks are deep, rich, the skin come from her aunt’s Portugee side of family(51). She is born without vocal cords, so she always bring a book and pen with her so that she can write to Willy. Since Willy is from the third class while Marguerite is from the first class which make Willy almost impossible to meet her, they reunion at night. She believes that Mr. Etzler is an unpardonable charlatan, and the satellite plan is unreliable.

• Mr. Whitechurch He is uncle of Marguerite, and a sincere follower of Etzler and his society. He is also one of the first lost of ‘pioneer’ of the Tropical Emigration Society, and follows Mr. Etzler to Trinidad for settlement with Rosalind. Unfortunately, he dies on Chaguabarriga while building the house because of yellow fever, and one of his eye is pecked out by birds.

• Mrs. Whitechurch A Portuguese, she is aunt of Marguerite, and also one of the first lost of ‘pioneer’ of the Tropical Emigration Society and follows Mr. Etzler to Trinidad for settlement with Rosalind. After the death of Mr. Whitechurch, She goes back to London with Marguerite.

Minor Characters

• Dr. Washington a retired physician from the parish of Bath, self- appointed ship’s doctor. He takes care of Mr. Etzler’s mental state and Marguerite.

• Captain Dampier He is the caption of Rosalind.

• Willy’s three sisters Georgina, Mary, and Amelia.

• Captain Taylor Captain Taylor: One of the agent of the Tropical Emigration Society. With Mr. Carr, he do the preparation work for TES’s arrival and guide TES how to explore the island. Unfortunately, he dies at age 72, 3 December 1845. His death is described as ‘the direct result of drinking three coconut waters, whilst in a state of extreme agitation and exhaustion’ by Mr.Etzler. However, the actual reason of death remains unclear.

• Mr. Carr The other agent of the Tropical Emigration Society. He is an old gentleman building houses and garden with other TES members on Chaguabarriga.

• Captain Vincent Lived in Trinidad, he directs the Tucker to Mr.Johnston’s house.

• Mastah Johnston As Colonial Secretary and Agent General of Emigrants, he goes to Chaguabarriga with other TES members to build houses by taking MissBee.

Major Themes

Love

The idea love is strongly portrayed in this novel. There are mainly two kinds: family love and romantic love. In the novel, family love means taking responsibility and supporting family bonding.

People move to Trinidad in family unit, like willy’s family and Marguerite family. Willy, Willy’s father, and Mr.Whitechurch travel to Chaguabarriga to build the home for their family. Willy’s father asks Willy to make promise that Willy need to work hard to build the house and remain the Trinidad. Willy’s father always dream to have a happy family in Trinidad but Black Vomit kills his dream. He is not able to reach his dream so he ask his son to finish his dream. In this case, Willy take the responsibility and continue his father’s work. When these men work hard in Chaguabarriga, it is the idea HOME encourages them to keep working. The life is hard, but because of the dream to build a lovely family pushes them forward.

Romantic love in this novel involves struggles. The relationship between Willy and Marguerite faces obstacles. First, Willy comes from working middle class while Marguerite comes from gentry that makes Willy almost impossible to even meet her. The boat separates these two classes, and separates these two people. So Willy decides to dress up as a girl in order to see Marguerite. Later, these two people can only meet each other at night which means their relationship is in the shadow that is not ‘appropriate’ under the light. After the death of Mr.Whitechurch, Marguerite need to go back to London. Marguerite writes a letter to Willy, explains the situation, and asks for a meet. When Willy reads the letter, it is already in the morning that Marguerite leaves. Willy runs to the port but does not able to meet her. Years and years later, Willy writes a letter to Marguerite and asks for reunion when he gets to London. Same thing happens again that Marguerite receives the letter so late that when she goes to the port, Willy leaves already. Social structure separates these two people, and same as fate. The story of Willy’s parents also supports this arguement. Willy’s parents love each other and have four kids together. They are the low-income working class but want to change their fate by starting a new life in Trinidad. When they arrive at Port of Spain, Willy’s father must part from Willy’s mother and travel with the men of the TES to build their future home in Caguasbarriga.

Just when Willy’s dad work hard and believe the good day finally come, black vomit attacks him. Death comes and separates this couple. This couple been through so much together but Willy’s father is not able to share the joy with Willy’s mother at the end.

In general, in this novel, love, no matter romantic or family love, means to do caring things for the one you love. Willy and his dad build house for their love. Willy try different tricks in order to get into the first class and meet Marguerite. Willy’s mother takes charge of the family when Willy’s father leaves the home. People use their action to prove their love instead of just say it.

Hopes and Dreams

High hopes for the future play a prevalent role in As Flies To Whatless Boys. Willy and his family come from a lower class background where it would not be expected for anyone to amount to much. In a similar way that manifest destiny influenced westward settlement, and the so-called “American Dream” has been bringing people to the U.S. in the hopes of creating a better life for hundreds of years, the same is attempted by the Tucker family. The Tuckers completely uproot themselves from their life in London to move to Trinidad, an altered version of the American Dream stuck in their heads. As Flies To Whatless Boys tells the story not only of laying it all out on the line in the hope of a better life, but also of what happens when that idea doesn’t work out.

Trust and Betrayal

Trust and betrayal are important driving themes in the novel. The action itself of giving up everything one owns to follow a strange man into the Caribbean takes an immense amount of trust. The Tuckers are only one family of the many that joined Etzler and his Satellite. All these people trusted Etzler completely. In the end Etzler betrayed all of them. The Satellite does not work, and Etzler effectively abandons his Tropical Emigration Society workers in the middle of the Trinidadian Jungle.

Class

Class in definitely a major theme in this novel. The relationship between Willy and Marguerite directly reflects the class differenc. Willy is from a mid-income working class and Marguerite is from gentry. The ship that takes them to Trinidad is divided by two sections: first class and their class. Willy is putted into the third class while Marguerite lives in first class. These two classes are completely isolated so it is almost impossible for Willy to meet Marguerite. After five days pointless waiting, Willy dresses up as an girl and sneaks in the first class. The relationship of this couple is not easy. When Willy tries to take Marguerite to Trinidad with his family, his idea get refused by his father because his family does not have the extra money to pay for Marguerite. When Willy goes back to port of Spain from Chaguabarriga, Marguerite needs to leave there with her aunt. Years later, when Willy makes lecture in London and asks Marguerite for reunion, Marguerite does not get the chance to meet Willy just like Willy does not get the chance to meet Marguerite when she leaves the port of spain. The ultimate separation of Willy and Marguerite indicates the ultimate separation of classes.

Style & Structure

if u tink u could get u hands pon dis copymachine easy as dat, u mad like effin toro!!! i aint oversee dese national archives all dis time only 2 be ram-jam-tank-u-mam quick & easy so, u unnastan?

As flies to whatless boys

The structure of this novel is really standout. Structure wise, the novel evolves in three parallel plots, epistolary style and specific type of language. Robert Antoni really puts serious consideration on the style of the novel. This novel is a historical event-based story that involves the research that Antoni collected for 15 years.The structure of the novel has been noted as being confusing, yet imperative to be able to cover the amount of research.

Three Parallel Plots

As an postmodern literature, As Flies to Whatless Boys is also characterized by having unreliable narrator. There are also at least 3 parallel storylines spanning over as many time periods.The major 3 storylines are that of Willy’s early life and the events of Chaguabarriga in 1845, Willy retelling his epic narrative to his son R-W many years later, and the research of Robert Antoni in the present day as he is in the process of writing his novel based on the Tucker family. For each storyline, and also for key moments from within those 3, Antoni incorporates many varying tones and registers. The language of the email chain between Robert and Miss Ramsol, the director of the archives, quickly becomes what Antoni described as, “Trini text speak”. Parallel to this, Willy’s story of Chaguabarriga and the crises his family went through are all vividly narrated in his own brand of Caribbean dialect.

Epistolary Style

As Flies To Whatless Boys is written in a modified epistolary style. Aside from major portions of the novel being written as a narration by the main character Willy, there are many communications between characters, including letters and emails, as well as interspersed diagrams and newspaper clippings.When there are no character developments on a page, it has been filled instead with detailed, not to mention verifiable, diagrams, newspaper clippings, pictures, faxes, and other assorted documents. The structure of the novel has been noted as being confusing, yet imperative to be able to cover the amount of research Antoni collected in his 15 years.

Language

Making one's way through convoluted sentence structure and pages of dialect and unique spelling can be as painstaking as translating a book written in an unfamiliar language. The key question becomes whether the reader will be swept up in the magic of the long and difficult journey or be swept overboard by the torrent

Robert Antonis

The novel was written over the span of 15 years, according to Antoni, and with the sheer amount of research he did into the story, it simply developed as many stylistic adaptations throughout the way. When Antoni determined that Willy would be his narrator, he needed also to create an entire Caribbean vernacular for him.

Background

The book is partially based on historical people and real event. Robert Antoni wrote this novel over fifteen years, putting it down at one point to white Carnival, then picking it up again. There was a footnote to the description of Etzler that caught Antoni’s attention that despite the tragedy that ensued with his experiment, several well-known families were established in Trinidad. And last among the list was his mother’s surname, Tucker.

The only story Antoni’s mother knew was that their first relative to arrive from England in Trinidad, William Sanger Tucker, settled the rest of his family in Port of Spain, and left immediately with his fifteen-year-old son, Willy, into the jungle—but the reason remained unclear.

Eager to figure out the story behind it, Antoni went to the National Archives in Trinidad, and to the British Library in London, and he gathered together everything he could find about Etzler and Etzler’s society—including Etzler’s own published treatises, complete with mechanical drawings of his machines.

By doing research on Etzler and the Tropical Emigration Society, he decided to write a historical novel about Etzler but then moved his direction to tell a small, intimate, family story about the Tuckers. Based on the limited details about them, he had to shove all of those years of research off of his desk, and begin to create the story of the Tuckers. He finally designed Willy Tucker would be the narrator, and came up with a Caribbean vernacular for Willy Tucker.

Publication History

Robert’s hard work was not immediately recognized by the publishers. His first draft of the novel was rejected by a dozen or so mainstream publishers- half of them never even responded to his agent. Later, the novel got published by a small, independent publishing house, Akashic books. Robert Antoni had met Johnny Temple, the editor of Akashic books, who agreed to publish the novel within two weeks of reading it. Johnny and the other editors at Akashic helped him rewrite the novel, and together they completely transformed it. The novel was published in 2013. The novel is currently only available in English, and to date no plans have been made for any type of second edition or translation.

Reception

2014 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature (Fiction and overall winner) For his work on the historical novel, Robert Antoni was made a Guggenheim Fellow in 2010. As Flies To Whatless Boys has also been longlisted for the 2015 International IMPAC DUBLIN Literary Award. The novel is currently only available in English, and to date no plans have been made for any type of second edition or translation.

As Flies to Whatless Boys is an inventive, witty, comic romance that is as much about history and adventure as it is about language. With virtuosic attention to language, Robert Antoni delightfully explores the written word in all its forms—as letters, as e-mails, as reportage, as narration, as archives—to tell stories, to paint characters, to demonstrate the range and integrity of English and its dialects, and to edge us closer to ourselves as equally human beings.

Earl Lovelace

Adaptations

There are no available film or television adaptations for this novel, save for an audiobook recording by the author. No plans have been made to adapt the novel at this time.

See also

• Caribbean Literature
• Trinidad and Tobago
• British West Indies
• Robert Antoni
• John Adolphus Etzler
• Earl Lovelace

Notes

Interview with publisher

Book with page

Citing antoni in general

Interview with with Robert antoni

Citing the same source again

Praise for the book

Jared’s email interview with the publisher

Jared’s email interview with Antoni

Antoni, Robert (April 07 2014). "An Interview with Robert Antoni, Author of As Flies to Whatless Boys" (Interview). Interviewed by Ed Battistella. {{cite interview}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |city= (help); Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)

Bibliography

• Lee, Simon. "Worthy Whatlessness." The Trinidad Guardian Newspaper. Guardian, 24 Apr. 2014. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://www.guardian.co.tt/lifestyle/2014-04-23/worthy-whatlessness>.
• Scott, Lawrence, and Robert Antoni. "Robert Antoni." Bomb 91 (2005): 54-60. Web. 27 May 2015.
• Townsend, Joyce. "Antoni, Robert. As Flies to Whatless Boys." Library Journal 1 Sept. 2013: 95. General OneFile. Web. 28 May 2015. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do id=GALE|A341127021&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_cambsch&it=r&p=GPS&sw=w&asid=f499a5f2186aa9c9f1737297086a1790>.